KNBR Conversation with the Sharks’ Brent Burns

Published 3:48 pm, Saturday, November 26, 2016

An edited transcript of an interview with the Sharks’ Brent Burns, who agreed Tuesday to an eight-year contract extension:

Q: How did this all get done?

A: My agent and (Sharks general manager Doug Wilson) had been talking for a while, and yeah, it was good and pretty smooth. I just tried to stay out of it and play hockey, and I’m just glad to have it done, to be honest.

Q: Did you always want to stay here or did you think, “You know, it’d be kind of cool to go to free agency”?

A: I think it’s very unknown, so it’s human nature to be curious about it, excited about it, but I think we realized pretty early on that this is a great place — a place where we could be with our family and raise our kids. You see guys who played here in the past living here, and that’s always a pretty good sign of how the team’s treated them and how the city’s treated them. It’s unbelievable how many past players have moved on and stayed here and had their families grow up here.

Q: Do contract negotiations affect your play or do you just play hockey and forget about it?

A: You’ve got to think about it. It’s your future, your family’s future, so you think about those things for sure, but hockey’s always been a great escape for any issue or anything you’re dealing with. It’s kind of your escape clause; you get to go to the rink and play a game that you love with a great group of guys.

Q: How much of it was looking at this team and knowing you’ve got a Stanley Cup contender here?

A: It comes all the way down from ownership to management to the coaching staff and then on to the players. We play this game to win. Getting a taste of it (in the Stanley Cup Finals) last year, you realize how fun the journey is. We didn’t get to the very top, but we’re still chasing that. It was such an unbelievable experience that we want to get back and finish the job this time.

Q: How would you characterize how your team is doing so far?

A: I think definitely it’s been a different year. You know, short summer, World Cup, we had a lot of guys missing trying to come together really quick. And then we’ve been on the road for what feels like three months. It’s just been a crazy year, but I think we have a great team and we feel really good about our group. We’re coming together. We still have some things we’ve got to fix and get better in, but we’re still in a good spot.

Q: You guys haven’t been as good on the road this year as you were last year. Is that just because you guys have played a ton on the road early?

A: Hockey’s just a crazy game and everyone talks about the balances and stuff and you’ve just got to work for those balances. You’ve just got to create those little balances that’ll tilt the game in your favor. Recently we’ve been playing good, but those balances haven’t gone in our favor.

Q: You guys haven’t been scoring a whole lot. Is that just a case where if you get a couple to go in everything will be OK, or is there something else that needs to be changed?

A: Yeah, it’s just one of those things where it’s not going in (and) you start forcing plays and squeezing your stick a little bit. It’s pretty natural. Hopefully last game will break it out for the boys and we can get it going.